Family Mellmann

I surprised the kids with an unannounced trip to a local bowling alley. Patrick called his friend, Calvin, to join us. When we pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley the kids started to whine (my kids - Calvin enjoys bowling). Katherine, who has never been bowling in her life, yells "I *HATE* BOWLING". I ignored them all and went straight into the building where I met up with the rest of the surprise. Another Trinity family - with kids/friends in both Patrick's and Katherine's classes - plus a few more Trinity kids were already there playing. It suddenly went from the "worst day ever" to the best day of [Katherine's] life, and both kids got all excited and happy to be there. One of these days maybe they'll just learn to trust me when I say I have a fun surprise for them...or not.

Today we used another Pinterest find. Katherine, who loves to paint, got into it pretty quickly, but wasn't too interested in using the glue (a surprise given her usual over-use of the stuff). Patrick had trouble getting into it at all, but I think it was mostly because I made him get off the Xbox to do it. What he doesn't seem to get is that I was going to kick him off the Xbox for awhile anyway. They both came up with some artwork that suits them (I'll try to post pictures later), and I will have some artwork to hang on the wall above their computers. :)

Today's Spring Break fun involves five friends and two homes.  Patrick and Katherine will be getting together with friends, first at the home of one of the friends then at our house. There is nothing better to combat boredom than friends.

Ever since Patrick was in First Grade, I determined to plan some activities for those vacations (other than summer) when he was out of school for more than a day or two.  Now that both kids are in school, I continue this "tradition". For Christmas break it was gingerbread construction, Christmas cookie making and decorating, and stuff like that.  For our Winter Break in February, we went on a dive vacation.  You get the idea. So now it's Spring Break.  Monday's Boredom Buster was to stem-dye some white roses.  My inspiration came from something I found on Pinterest .  I'm not sure that ours will come out quite as vibrant as theirs, but it's still fun to watch how each one pulls in the different colors.  So far I don't see any three color roses (despite having a couple of them in there), but I am pleasantly surprised by the vibrancy of the colors - at first it wasn't looking like they would get very intense. I'll try to post a picture at the e...

Today, Patrick and Katherine's classes combined to deliver a concert to the residents of Pillsbury Manor nursing home. They sang several songs and hymns, recited memorized Bible verses, and presented each resident in attendance with a goodie bag filled with homemade treats and gifts hand made by the children. One gentleman I talked to, in tears said, "I enjoyed it all - every part. You just have to love their glowing faces."

We had a "snow day" yesterday.  Schools were cancelled, programs were closed, and the media went wild with doomsday reports about treacherous road conditions and large snow falls. Perhaps, in some areas, things did get a little crazy, and the early morning hours (leading up to the morning commute) surely saw some slippery roads.  But, here in Williston things remained quiet.  After a day of nearly constant snow, I had to drive to Middlebury (an hour south of home) for a meeting.  I was prepared for the worst, but the "worst" part of the drive was the other drivers - not the snow or the roads. This morning, before I could pull out of the driveway, I had to get the snow blower going to get the car out.  The six inches of snow in the driveway aren't much of a problem for my car, but the snow plows dumped a good pile of heavy, wet, and dirty snow at the end of my driveway.  In the process, they managed to bury my garbage cans - but only after moving them in...